The Newcomer
by Gangsta Luigi
Summary: When Winston's time machine sends Tracer back to 1968, she finds herself in the middle of 2Fort. When she stumbles into RED base, Engineer and the rest of the TF crew welcome her into their lifestyle while the ceasefire against the BLUs is in effect. But when the BLUs launch an unexpected attack, Tracer must choose to help her new friends, or return safely to her own time...
1. Chapter 1

**The Newcomer - Chapter 1**

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Overwatch or Team Fortress 2, nor do I own any of the characters that appear in this story or are mentioned._**

She woke with a start.

Tracer immediately felt the cool touch of wooden planks against her cheek. Her eyes darted to the solid material that she was currently sprawled out on.

Slowly, she got to her feet. She felt sore all over. She realized she must have come out of the time machine several feet above the wooden surface before falling face first onto it and being knocked out cold.

She collected her thoughts. She remembered that Winston - her best friend gorilla, who also happened to be an expert scientist - had asked her if she was willing to try out his new time machine, and finding the idea exciting, she gladly volunteered. Winston had told her that there was no way to know where she would be transported, but he had given her a device that would open up a return portal for her immediately if she pressed the button on the front of it. Miraculously, according to Winston, no matter how long she had stayed in the past, only a single minute would pass during the present. She thought it was crazy, impossible; but she had faith in the astonishing brain of her furry friend.

Tracer looked around her, examining her surroundings. The wooden platform was in fact a bridge that connected two flat areas of rock which basked in a light brown-good light as the sun shone harshly upon their surfaces. Tracer realized that the bridge's roof had kept her cool amidst the unrelenting rays. Peering over the edge of the bridge, she observed that it was suspended over a large moat.

She scratched her head and walked towards one of the rock flats. As she groggily stumbled forward, she noticed that there was a large, red structure built onto the rock, with a large fence line that defined the boundaries of the land. Following the fence line - farther to the left, around the far edges of the moat, and to the other slab of flat rock - she realized there was a blue colored fortress opposite the red one, the two looming buildings identical in almost every way save for the scorch marks and bullet holes that she could see on their wooden walls. Was this the scene of a battle?

Both cautious and curious, she drew one of her laser weapons from its holster and held it at her side. She didn't want to appear threatening, but she wouldn't leave herself defenseless, either.

She approached the right doorway of the structure, ready to defend herself if necessary but unable to hide the small smile on her face as she felt excitement spread throughout her. Maybe I'll get to meet soldiers from the past!

Engineer, along with Soldier and Heavy, peered at the slender woman who was approaching the front of the fort with some kind of handgun. Engineer had spotted her on the perimeter cameras a minute earlier in the camera room, which was adjacent to the rec room, and had called over his comrades from their cutthroat ping pong match.

Soldier said, "Who is she, grease monkey?"

Engineer replied with uncertainty. "Ah'm not sure, Soldier," he said with the unmistakeable accent of a homegrown Texan. "But she doesn't look t' be a BLU."

Heavy chimed in. "True, but she could be BLU Spy. He always tries new tricks."

Engineer conceded that point. "Good point, Heavy. But those disguise kits them Spies use only can make 'em look like us mercs. Ah borrowed Spy's once and had a good look at it. Ah don't think so."

Engineer took a moment to admire her figure. She was a slender woman, with long, muscular legs, curvaceous thighs, and a strong posture. Her body was encased in what looked like a sleek yellow skinsuit, complete with small sections of armor plating whiter than the clouds in the sky. Her eyes were obscured behind a pair of mostly opaque orange goggles, and her chocolate brown hair was styled up above her head in a striking spiked pattern. What struck Engineer as the most peculiar was the glowing blue energy that seemed encased in the center of the front of her suit.

Engineer leaned back in his chair as she continued her walk to the entrance of the base, hips swaying slightly. What a strange girl.

Soldier's comment broke him out of his analysis. "What should we do, Engie?"

Engineer scratched his chin in thought. While she looked imposing for a woman of her size - and apparent young age - the innocent smile she wore on her lips and the glint of excitement in her eyes told him she was probably nothing more than a friendly excitement-driven adventurer, albeit with a good tale to tell based on her choice of hairstyle, clothing and weaponry. It was at that moment he made a decision.

"Ah'm going to go topside 'n' see her m'self. She doesn't seem too harmful, and Ah'm still gonna be in the range of the respawn machine even if she kills me."

Soldier didn't have any objections, lowering his helmet and skulking off back into the rec room. Heavy was about to walk out, until he turned and said, "You are sure you want to go by yourself?"

"Yes," he replied. "My instinct tells me she's harmless, and if she ain't, then Ah've got m'self this old girl." He patted the shotgun that lie on the table near the cameras controls. "Ah don't want to bring out the whole team, as that might intimidate her. Stay here with the others 'till I return."

Heavy nodded, strolling into the rec room, and Engineer grabbed his pistol and shotgun and headed to the front of the base, where the peculiar girl awaited him.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Newcomer - Chapter 2 - Meet The Team**

Walking through the door into the base, she discovered that the floor was compiled out of hard, packed dirt. The cool earth felt pleasant against her feet, and obtained some relief from the sun-bathed stone that she had just left behind. She closed her eyes and sighed softly.

When she opened them again, there was a man there, observing her.

She jumped slightly, but relaxed when it was clear he wasn't appearing to threaten her. The man was short, with a pudgy frame, and his slightly-sagged shoulders and hunchback posture suggested that he was not physically fit in any particular way. He was dressed in a bright red t-shirt with a pair of dark brown coveralls covering his torso and trousers of the same pigment obscuring his short, stocky legs. On his belt there was a various assortment of wires, and on his face he wore a large pair of goggles that obscured his eyes. Lastly, he donned a single bright yellow hard hat on his head, worn backwards, as she knew many construction workers and engineers preferred to do as they were more comfortable that way.

He smiled at her warmly, welcomingly, and Tracer knew that whoever this man was, he was a friendly figure. She gave him a wave and returned the smile. She noticed the ancient pump action shotgun that hung in his right hand loosely at his side, but she theorized he only had it with him now as a precaution. She realized that this man was likely a tech of some sort, and thus there were no doubt cameras installed that would have alerted him to her presence.

"Hello, missy. Good day to ya. You can call me the Engineer." The man said to her, flashing another warm smile in her direction as his Texan accent dripped from his tongue. "May Ah ask to whom do Ah owe the pleasure?"

Feeling grateful for the kindness, she eagerly replied, "You can call me Tracer, love. Do you mind telling me, what year are we in right now?"

The man called the Engineer blinked once, a look of confusion on his face. "Ya mean ya don't know?"

"He doesn't know that I came from the future," she thought to herself. Smiling, she replied, "I just came from the future, mister! I have no idea where or when I ended up."

He looked taken aback. "Well, this is the year of 1968."

She was shocked. "Wow! That's...a LONG time!"

Engineer switched the subject. "How did ya time travel here?"

"I have a friend who works on scientific stuff. His name's Winston. He's the one who made the time machine."

He pondered this for a moment. Clearly the idea of a time machine didn't seem to phase him, which she thought odd for someone who was from 1968, a time when the world's first publicly available computers were being drawn up in blueprints. "I wonder if there's more to this man than meets the eye," she wondered to herself.

Then, he flashed her another toothy, friendly smile and nodded. "Come on. Ah've got some people ya should meet. You can stay with us for awhile."

Tracer followed Engineer through the base, noting that the signs of battle she had seen outside also existed here. She realized that the base had been invaded before; Engineer and the other people here must have driven them off, defending their turf.

They descended a long stairway into a cool basement area. Unlike the majority of the base, this area was floored with fully completed with wall and flooring. On the walls there were several gadgets and gizmos that seemed to be monitoring the status of the base. He led her to a door that said "REC ROOM", and she noticed that near it was an open door that lead to a room with a single chair and several camera monitoring screens. She realized that this room was likely where the Engineer had first spotted her.

He opened the door to the rec room and immediately she found eight other people spread out around the room. There was a scrawny, teenage-looking boy sprawled out on a couch, half-daydreaming, half-interested in the nearby television; a man dressed in the uniform of a soldier, sitting in a chair, his thumb constantly fumbling with a grenade he held in his hand out of habit; a person completely encased in a fire retardant suit, their head covered with an ancient gas mask. The man or woman - she couldn't tell - was playing with balloon animals near the corner. Next there was a man with dark skin, an eyepatch, and a black beanie that sat at the bar, hunched over a bottle of alcohol; a bear of a man, made of raw muscle and fat, sat in a chair near a table, hunched over a large volume of what she guessed was Russian origin; an official-looking man in a white lab coat, studying a clipboard; a tall, lanky man with a brimmed hat and sunglasses who sat across from the large man at the table, drinking from a mug; and finally a man in an expensive looking suit and balaclava, sitting in a comfortable-looking armchair, reading a magazine. All 8 of them wore suits or clothes that were colored the same bright red as Engineer, with the exception of the bulletproof vests of the large man and the black man.

As one, they looked up at her in surprise.

"Let me introduce ya to the team," said the Engineer.

The other 8 people in the room had all taken a seat in a line on chairs and stools that had been hastily arranged.

Gesturing to the boyish man, he said, "This here's the Scout. He's quick, but his mouth is quicker."

This tease made her giggle slightly, and Tracer noticed that he gave Engineer a short glare before turning back to her.

"Hello dere, I'm da Scout," he said in a nervous voice, his thick Bostonian accent coming through. "So, uhh...yeah."

She smiled warmly, thinking to herself that his awkwardness was cute in a way. "Nice to meet you, love."

He blushed and looked away. Engineer pointed to the man in uniform. "This here's the Soldier."

The man called Soldier straightened up and puffed out his chest. "I am the Soldier! I welcome you to the base, Private Twinkletoes."

She chuckled at the nickname, and he seemed pleased, grinning.

Engineer moved on. "An' this here's the Pyro."

"Hrrlrr, errt irrs nrrc trr mrrt yurr!" the Pyro said to her excitingly. The muffles were almost unintelligible, but Pyro's voice was just clear enough that she could understand. "It's nice to meet you too, Pyro!" She said. The Pyro raised an open palm and she gave Pyro a high five. Pyro started clapping, clearly happy, and she laughed with joy.

Engineer, grinning at the pair, indicated the black man next. "And this is Demoman."

The dark-skinned man gave her a wide grin with alcohol-stained teeth as he took a huge swig from his drink. After he belched loudly - making her giggle - he said, "Welcome to th' base, lass," in a drunken, slurred Scottish accent.

Engineer's finger moved to the large mountain of a man. "This is Heavy."

The man looked down at her with a blank expression. Extending a single, meaty hand, he said, "Hello. I am Heavy. Pleased to meet you."

She took the gargantuan hand and shook it, his grip iron hard.

Engineer gestures towards the man with medical clothing. "Hello, frauline," he said cheerfully, adjusting his glasses. "I am zhe Medic." The German pronunciation of the word surprised her momentarily. She nodded at him, smiling.

Next, the tall, lanky man reached up and tipped the brim of his hat in her direction. "Greetings, miss. I'm the Sniper." The man gave off an air of introversion and silence - she could tell he seldom talked or interacted with anyone but himself. She silently shook his hand.

Lastly, there was the suited man in a balaclava. She sensed he conducted himself in a manner of strict, unwavering professionalism, something that his perfectly straightened suit and rigid posture confirmed. He looked into her eyes, half-smiled, and said softly, "Bonjour. You may call me the Spy." He extended his hand, and she took it, shaking it gingerly.

"Well, you've met everyone," said Engineer. All the men stood up as one, a clear sign that they operated as a single unit. "Scout here will show ya to your room while Ah make everyone dinner."

Scout made an exaggerated sigh and motioned for her to follow, and as he led her to a hallway with several doors on both sides, Tracer knew that there was more to these men that met the eye.


End file.
